Educators turning on new Windows computers in the coming months could see important new changes, including prominent links for programs such as music and internet software from some of Microsoft Corp.'s biggest corporate rivals.

But a court's Nov. 1 decision not to impose tougher penalties than those negotiated with the Bush administration means Microsoft's flagship operating system will remain mostly unadulterated as the engine for the technology industry and for the company's own extraordinary profits.

In an enormous victory for Microsoft, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly approved only minor changes in the antitrust settlement. She will permit computer makers, for at least five years, to activate software from rivals as soon as a new PC is switched on by consumers. She also will prohibit Microsoft from threatening to retaliate against anyone who cooperates with its rivals.

The judge established a corporate committee—consisting of Microsoft board members who are not company employees—to make sure the company lives up to the deal, and she gave herself more oversight authority.

But she would not go further in punishing Microsoft, deriding arguments by attorneys general from nine states and the District of Columbia that tougher penalties were essential to restore competition in the technology industry. The judge said many of these additional proposals were developed chiefly to benefit Microsoft's rivals, not consumers, and said the states' legal strategy had been hopelessly flawed.

What a difference a judge makes.

Kollar-Kotelly, 59, proved a meticulous, enigmatic jurist unwilling to push the limits of earlier rulings on Microsoft by a federal appeals court.

She adopted a remarkably narrow view of the issues surrounding the case and indicated she was particularly skeptical over the failure to show how Microsoft's business decisions hurt consumers, even as these actions proved devastating to technology rivals.

The judge in the earlier Microsoft trial, Thomas Penfield Jackson, occasionally lost his temper toward witnesses during a 78-day trial and laughed openly at Microsoft chief Bill Gates. Jackson also eagerly broadened the case beyond narrow questions surrounding web browser software and frequently butted heads with the appeals court.

When Jackson handed down his punishments, also overturned later by an appeals court, he ordered Microsoft split in two. The Nov. 1 decision by Kollar-Kotelly, which is the closest thing yet to a resolution in the case, was far more favorable for Microsoft.

Gates pledged a personal commitment to abide by the judge's instructions, which he called "a good compromise and good settlement." Microsoft's lawyers expected to spend the weekend reviewing the decision, which covers hundreds of pages. But declared Gates: "We're not seeing anything that would be cause for appeal."